tilt,         IMNHI 


No.  105. 

DO  YOU  LOVE  GOD  ? 

Wc  like  to  think  of  those  we  love.  When 
we  become  attached  to  an  individual, 
1  hat  one  is  often  and  much  in  our  thought*. 
Do  you  think  often  of  God  ?  Do  you 
'think  much  of  him  ?  Do  you  lone  to'think 
•of  God?  And  when  you  do  think  of 
him,  is  it  with  delight,  or  with  dread  ? — 
-Are  thojsghts  of  him  precious  f  Do  )  on 
^cherish  thoughts  of  God  ;  or  do  you  ban- 
ish them  as  soon  as  you  can  ? 

^V  e  delight  in  the  society  of  those  we 
love.  We  wish  to  he  much  and  often 
with  them.  We  cannot  bear  a  long  ab- 
sence from  them.  Do  you  delight  in  the 
society  of  God?  Do  you  love  to  hold 
communion  with  him  ?  Do  you  read  your 
Bible  for  this  purpose,  and  frequent  your 
closet  ?  What  testimony  will  your  Bible 
and  your  closet  bear  in  the  judgment  ?— - 
Do  you  pray  at  all?  When?  where? 
how  ofteu  ?  D,>  you  pray,  once  a  May  ? 
once  a  week?  once   a   month?     Do  you 


pray  in  jour  closet?  in  your  family?  la- 
public?     Did  you  ever  pray  f 

We  endeavor  to  please  those  we  love. — 
Do  you  endeavor  to  pleas©  God?  From 
what  do  you  abstain,  that  you  may  please 
'him  ?  What  do  you  do,  that  you  ms^y 
please  him  ?  Do  you  seek  his  pleasure 
in  anything?  How  or  in  what  do  you 
serve  him  I  Do  3^0 u  delight  in  his  service  ? 
Do  you  obey  him  ?  He  commands  all 
men  everywhere  to  repent.  Acts  xvii :  30. 
Do  you  obeytik&b  command  ?  And  if  you 
do  not  obey  God,  how  can  you  please 
him  ?  A«d  if  you  do  not  strive  to  please 
him,  how  can  you  love  him  ? 

We  are  careful  not  to  offend  those  we 
love.  We  do  nothing  to  injure  their  feel- 
ings, nothing  to  incur  their  displeasure. 
Are  you  careful  not  to  offend  God  ?  But 
see  how  you  live.  You  do  not  obey  his 
commands,  nor  regard  his  threaten ings, 
nor  accept  his  invitations,  nor  embrace 
his  Son,  nor  yield  to  his  Spirit,  nor  live 
to  his  glory.  Suppo&e  a  native  from  the 
w«stePn  wilds  should  visit  your  dwelling, 
and  abide  with  you  a  month  or  a  year,  see 
all  you  do,  and  hear  all   you  say ;  could 


he  infer  from  your  conduct  that  there  is  a 
God  ?  Must  he  not  conclude,  either  that 
there  is  no  God,  or  that,  if  there  be  a 
God,  you  do  not  believe  in  his  existence  ? 
Such  a  conclusion  must  be  natural  and 
necesssary,  for  he  would  see  you  eat  and 
drink  without  thanking  God  or  asking 
his  blessing.  He  would  see  you  lie  down 
and  rise  up  without  prayer ;  see  you 
plough  and  sow  and  attend  to  your  affairs, 
without  any  reference  to  a  superintending 
Providence.  In  one  word,  he  would  see 
you  living  practically,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  without  God,  an  atheist  in  the 
world.  Does  the  pursuit  of  such  a  course 
show  a  desire  and  purpose  not  to  offend 
God?  And  if  you  are  not  careful  to 
avoid  offending  God,  how  can  you  love 
him  ?  If  you  loved  God,  could  you  live 
as  you  do  ? 

"We  feel  interested  in  the  objects  which  in- 
terest those  ive  love.  "What  interests  them, 
interests  us.  Tfo  conversion  of  sinners 
interests  the  Godhead.  As  angels  love 
God,  so  fhey  rejoice  over  repenting  sin- 
ners. Luke  xv :  10.  So  do  Christians 
and  all  holy  beings.     But  the  repentance 


1  of  a  sinner  excites  no  joy  in  your  heart. 
You  are  not  interested  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  the  con- 
version and  salvation  of  men.  If  you  are, 
why  not  repent  yourself,  and  turn  to  God  ? 
If  interested  in  the  things  which  interest 
God,  why  not  turn  from  your  sins  and, 
live,  that  God,  angels,  and  men  may  re- 
joice over  you  ? 

We  love  the  friends  of  those  we  love. — 
As  the  circle  of  their  friendship^  endear- 
ed to  them,  so  is  it  to  us.  Thei  friendf 
are  ours,  and  we  love  them,  Chiistians 
are  the  friends  of  God.  Do  you  love 
Christians?  Do  you  love  them  because 
they  bear  the  moral  image  of  their  divine 
Master  ?  Do  you  love  them  at  all  ?  Je- 
sus Christ  is  the  well-beloved  of  the  Fath- 
er, elect,  precious.  Do  you  love  Jesus 
Christ?  How  do  you  treat  him?  He  is 
Offered  you  as  a  Saviour  from  sin  and 
death,  but  you  receive  him  not,  you  re- 
ject and  despise  him.  This  rejection  of 
Christ  and  your  treatment  of  him  show 
that  you  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you. 
God  says,  "  They  will  reverence  my  Son." 
Matt*  xxi :  97.     He  has  a  right  to  expect 


this.  But  you  reverence  him  cot.  Je- 
sus says,  ir  Johnv:  43,  "I  am  come  in 
my  Fathers  name,  and  ye  receive  me 
not."  This  he  says  in  proof  of  the  pre- 
ceding declaration,  "Ye  have  not  the 
love  of  Go  1  in  you  ;  "  for  how  could  they 
— how  can  you,  love  the  Father,  when 
they  and  3  ou  receive  not  the  Son  ? 

But  further,  you  dislike  to  have  the  claim* 
of  God  ui  (jed  v-jpon  you.  Let  the  preach- 
ing you  hear  be  plain  and  pointed,  or  let 
Christians  be  faithful  in  conversation, 
and  very  likely  you  will  be  offended. — 
Why  ?  If  you  loved  God,  you  would  de- 
light to  hear  his  truth  plainly  and  faith- 
fully preached,  to  have  your  duty  plainly 
and  faithfully,  but  affectionately  urged 
upon  you.  And  how  can  you  love  God, 
when  thus  opposed  to  his  claims,  and 
displeased  when  they  are  pressed  upon 
your  attention? 

Again,  you  have  broken  the  law  of  God, 
and  yet  you  feel  no  sorrow  for  it.  You  are 
not  grieved  that  you  have  broken  the 
law  of  God,  and  set  at  naught  his  com- 
mands; how  then  can  you  love  him? — 
Love  always  leads  us  to  embrace  the  first 


opportunity  to  confess  our  faults  to  those 
whom  we  have  injured ;  but  when  did 
you  confess  your  sins  to  God?  You 
have  injured  him  by  your  transgressions ; 
but  when  and  where  have  you  made  con- 
fession, and  sued  for  his  forgiveness? 

And  what  regard  have  you  for  God's  hon- 
or and  glory  ?  Are  you  grieved  when  his 
name  is  dishonored  and  his  law  broken  ? 
Do  rivers  of  waters  run  down  your  eyes 
because  men  keep  not  his  law  ?  Psa.  119: 
136.  But  how  do  you  treat  his  law,  his 
Bible,  his  S#)bath,  his  sanctuary,  his  wor- 
ship, his  ordinances,  his  people?  Are 
you  honoring  and  .glorifying  God?  Is 
this  your  aim  ?  Is  God  honored  and  glo- 
rified by  your  unholy  an"d  prayerless  and 
irreligious  life  ?  But,  reader,  not  to  reas- 
on further,  I  ask  you  plainly,  must  you 
not  confess  that  you  have  not  the  love  of 
God  in  you?  Are  you  not  con  vinced  that 
you  are  wholly  destitute  of  all  true  evan- 
gelical love  to  God  ?  "Whether  convinced 
or  not,  remember  the  Saviour  says,  and  it 
is  true",  I  know  you,  that  you  have  not  the 
love  of  God  in  you.  This  is  your  condi- 
tion ;  I  would  to  God  you  might  realize 
it,  repent  of  it,  and  forsake  it. 


In  the  above,  do  we  not  see  most  clearly 
that, 

1.  Sinners,  unrenewed,  are  not  fit  for 
heaven.  Reader,  what  would  you  do  in 
heaven,  if  admitted  there  ?  You  have  no 
love  to  God.  You  could  not  delight  in 
his  praise.  You  could  not  be  happy  in 
the  society  of  those  who  are  filled  with 
the  love  of  God.  Negative  goodness,  be  it 
remembered,  is  not  sufficient.  Nor  is 
morality  sufficient.  Many,  it  would  seem, 
pride  themselves  on  their  harmlessness. — 
They  have  injured  no  one;  they  have 
done,  they  say,  nothing  very  bad.  This 
is  the  amount  of  their  righteousness.  On 
this  they  build  their  hopes  of  heaven. — 
But  such  hopes  are  vain.  To  be  destitute 
of  good  fruits  is  damning.  Matt.  xxv:*4l 
— 43,  and  14 — 30.  "  Ye  have  not  the  love 
of  God  in  you,"  is  the  description  and  con- 
demnation  of  impenitent,  unregenerate 
men.  John  v:  42,  It  is  a  sufficient  crime 
to  be  destitute  of  love  to  God.  Of  this 
crime  you  are  guilty.  You  do  not  love 
God.  This  has  been  proved.  You  there- 
fore are  not  fit  for  heaven.  You  know 
yon  are  not,  you  feel  that  you  are  not.     If 


you  die  as  you  at  e,  you  must  be  forever 
excluded  from  tbe  paradise  of  God.  Are 
you  willing  thus  to  die,  and  sink  down  in 
endless  despair  ?  I  know  you  are  not.— 
Then  why  not  turn  and  live  ?  Wh)  need 
so  much  urging,  so  much  entreaty? 

2.  Again  I  remark,  you  must  be  born 
again,  or  perish.  There  is  no  escape.  To 
dream  of  going  to  heaven  as  you  are, 
without  the  love  of  God  in  you,  with  a 
heart  opposed  to  God  and  at  enmity  w  ith 
him,  Rom.  viii:  7,  is  folly  and  madness. 
There  must  be  a  change,  or  you  are  lo^t. 
The  enmity  of  your"  heart  must  be  suh* 
dued,  and  a  principle  of  holy  love  be  be- 
gotten within  you.  You  must  be  renew 
ed  in  the  spirit  ot  your  mind,  Eph.  iv :  23 
—become  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus, 
2  Cdr.  v:  17 — experience  the  washing  of 
regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  Titus  iii :  5 — be  born  again,  John, 
iii:  5-8 — born  of  the  Spirit,  or  you  wilL 
perish  in  you  sins  and^ink  to  hell.  A.8^, 
that  you  may  receive.  Lukexi;  1*— 18. 
And  byware  how  you  resist  and  griave  the. 
Spirit!  Me  will  not  always  strive,  Gen, 
vi:  3- 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH  8.5 


